The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Tuesday said that they have filed a charge sheet against 3 persons and 10 private firms in connection with a chit fund fraud of Rs 238 crore.
The charge sheet was filed before the Court of Special Judicial Magistrate, Kamrup, Guwahati (Assam).
The accused had collected Rs 238 crore from different people under various schemes claimed to be for product booking and promised them higher returns. But neither the money nor the products were given to anyone.
Biswapriya Giri, Sachindranath Bhattacharya, and Sushil Kumar Sharma were running various companies. They have been named as accused in the charge sheet along with their firms.
According to the information, the CBI had in 2014 registered a case in the chit fund fraud following the order of the Supreme Court of India and took over the investigation from Assam Police.
The case was against a private Group of Companies and others including Managing Directors, GM, Manager, a Guwahati-based private company whose Head Office was at Kolkata.
The accused persons had allegedly been collecting money from innocent persons through agents under the schemes claiming to be for product booking. The companies had given them assurance of high return within a few months.
“They were running various schemes claimed to be for product booking and collected a huge amount of money. They gave an assurance to pay back with lucrative interest without any guarantor and without permission of RBI/SEBI etc,” said the CBI official.
The official said that no one was given any product. Later the investors came to know that the company was cheating them through various schemes. By then the accused had cheated innocent persons to the tune of Rs 238 crore.
After taking over the probe the CBI recorded the testimonies of the victims. It collected the documentary and other evidence to make their case strong. After making a foolproof charge sheet they first took the legal opinion from the senior counsel and then furnished it before the court.
The role of the other accused is still being looked into. The CBI said that they were still probing the matter and a supplementary charge sheet is likely in the matter.
